The Russian influence

Åland is part of Finland (although it is semi autonomous and is Swedish speaking). Finland is a relatively young nation, it only exists as an independent state since 1918. Until 1809 it was part of Sweden, at that stage it was taken over by Russia. At the October revolution in 1917, the Finns cleverly proclaimed independence which was confirmed in 1918.
There are still quite a few remnants of the Russian influence, one being the marking of the fairways between the islands. This is mainly done using the 'cardinal system', where obstructions are marked with black and yellow marks, the 'order' of the black and yellow indicating where the obstruction is:





This is a South cardinal, the black underneath the yellow tells us that the mark is to the south of the obstruction.

The cardinal system is still extensively used worldwide, but generally only to indicate separate obstructions, not the course of the fairway. This is nowadays usually done with the lateral system, using red and green buoys. In the Åland Islands the lateral system is only used on the newer fairways, the Russians used (and apparently still use) the cardinal system almost exclusively.

A more visible remnant of the Russian times are the Bomarsund ruins. As Åland was the westernmost outpost of the Russian empire, they wanted to build a fort here to defend against naval attacks and to protect their Baltic fleet. They started building it in 1850, it was to be an enormous fort with 8 large towers. But long before it was finished, in 1854, it was destroyed by a joint British - French force.











From the ruins of the tower, one has a great view of the Åland skärgård:





At the foot of the tower, in the bay called Notviken where the Russian fleet was to have been anchored, there now is a guest jetty on the rocks where we are now tied up on a stern buoy.

Location:Sund,Åland Islands

A bridge and a castle

After spending an extra day in Mariehamn to wait for the wind to drop, we continued into the Åland skärgård today. Many of the islands are connected by bridges and we passed two today. That's quite unusual these days! The first one was a fixed one and we would have been able to pass under the second one as well with our mast down but as we arrived on the hour, when it opens to let the yachts through, we joined the crowd:








We had not expected that there would be two way traffic, but there you are...

We continued to Kastelholm, and on the way we got some water over the deck. That has not happened in weeks! Although the salt content of the water here is less than one fifth of the North Sea, we still have salt stains on the boat now. 🙄

At Kastelholm, one finds the oldest castle in Åland, it is 14th century and although it was burned down several times, a lot of it was preserved or otherwise restored.












The guest harbour here is very scenic and there is a very nice atmosphere.





We lit the Cobb and had a nice meal and I even had a sauna, that's what the Finns do. There is one in every guest harbour and the use of it is included in the harbour fee. It was 70 degrees and very humid, but I quite enjoyed it!

Location:Finland

Busy busy

We have had a busy couple of days.
Yesterday we needed a few things for the boat, so a trip to the chandler was required. The chandler is a few KM out of town, but they kindly lay on a taxi every morning at 10 which takes you to the shop and back again.

Next a haircut was on the programme. I had not had one since Cape Town in April so there was some urgency with this. Fortunately there are several hairdressers in Mariehamn, one of which eve offers a pensioners rate. The few haircuts I have had in Scandinavia (and in London for that matter) have all been given by non-English speaking immigrants, mainly Eastern European. Strange....

I have been in Åland once before, 21 years ago during my Optimist days. At that time I met Ralph, a born and bred Ålander, whom I last saw in 2000. We got in touch with him and last night he took us to a jazz performance plus nice meal:











It was a very nice evening. When we got back on board at quarter to 11, the sun was still above the horizon which is a bit confusing time wise!

This morning Ralph took us by car first to a former sea captain's mansion. This proved very interesting as the captain concerned was the captain of the Herzogin Cecilien, one of the last grain clippers which stranded on a rock in the English Channel near Salcombe in 1936. Åland was the base of Gustav Erikson, the biggest shipowner of the grain trade. The mansion had a lot of interesting history and a movie about the last voyage of the 'Herzogin ' was shown.






Then we had lunch with Åland beer. And noticed the local version of the 'stång', the pole used during the midsummer celebrations which is ferry different from the Swedish stång:





It's now almost 9pm and the yacht club's gun will be fired to tell us to take our flag down.

Tomorrow the wind will probably be too strong to start our exploration of the islands, which is no problem as we can use a 'chill day' after the last two busy ones!

Location:Norragatan,Mariehamn,Åland Islands

Precise navigation and three new records

Our original plan had been to go to Fejan today, this being the point in Sweden with the shortest crossing to Mariehamn, the main town on the Åland Islands. But the forecast for today was excellent for a 'sea voyage', so we decided to go for a no-stop strategy and combine two days into one.
The first bit was through the northern Stockholm skärgård. The chart looks like this:





The plotter, when zoomed in, looks like this:




Lots of little islands and rocks, marked with red and green buoys. If you can see the rock clearly, there is no mark....

That all seems a bit daunting, but as long as you concentrate on where you are (that's what the pink marker on the chart is for), it's not that bad. This is what it looks like in real life (all three pictures taken a few minutes apart).





As you can see, the weather is great. Pictures taken just before 7am this morning, after pulling up the stern anchor at 6.

By 9:30 we were abeam of Fejan and we had joined the ferry route.





Åland is a semi autonomous region of Finland, it is part of the EU, but not of the EU tax zone. Because of this, the ferries that cross from Sweden to Finland (or vv) and stop at Mariehamn make a voyage outside the EU for tax purposes. This must have some pretty significant benefits, the ferry terminal in Mariehamn -which in itself is rather a sleepy small town - is big and busy.

Some 15 miles out, our phones told us we were now in Finland (Vodafone sends a message 'welcome in Finland, calls cost 23cents a minute.....'). And by then land was also visible.
Soon, we could take this picture:





We passed the 60 degrees North latitude. Record #1.

Finland is also in a different time zone, the phones and iPads adjusted themselves and we advanced the ship's clock by one hour. First time we crossed into a different time zone. Record #2.

Nine hours and twenty minutes and 55.2 miles after leaving Finnhamn we tied up in Mariehamn. Neither of these two are records. But when we hoisted this courtesy flag:





it was the forth one this year after Germany, Denmark and Sweden. And that is record #3.

Rest day tomorrow!

Location:Storagatan,Mariehamn,Åland Islands

Has the season finally started? In paradise!

After a very pleasant day with our Swedish /South African friend Birgitta yesterday, we left Saltsjöbaden and travelled north. For the first time, we had to really look out for other boats: there were plenty of yachts tacking into wind going south and also lots of little 'mosquitos ', small fast motorboats of which you have no idea where they are going. It appears that, as expected, the peak season has started.
After almost 30 miles, we entered the bay at Finnhamn, recommended by our Finnish neighbours in Saltsjöbaden. The bay is actually called 'Paradiset' and with some reason. Very well protected from all winds, easy to get into. And with nice jetties (staging) to tie onto using a stern anchor. It is not full here, but there are quite a few boats next to us with families, barbecueing on the rocks. Nice atmosphere.

The island here is quite 'sophisticated', there are gravel roads, a small shop, a ferry landing and a hostel. We saw the 'steam' ferry arrive when we went for a walk:





Our plan is to leave very early tomorrow morning, finish the skärgård route north and if the wind is as kind as it is forecasted to be, cross to Mariehamn, the main town of the Åland Islands. The 'crossing' is 30 miles, but in total we expect to cover 55 miles tomorrow.
And as we enter another country (Åland is a semi-autonomous part of Finland), our internet probably will need a new SIM card. So no panic if there is no post tomorrow!

Location:Österåker,Sweden

Saltsjöbaden for Stockholm

We are in Saltsjöbaden, which is sort of a suburb of Stockholm.
There is a very good connection to the city itself from here, usually it's a train but as the track is being renovated this summer, it is served by a bus. We were wondering why the renovation would be done in summer, but then concluded that it would be tricky with snow on the ground!

We took the bus yesterday, firstly because we needed a chart set for the northern Stockholm skärgård and an Åland harbour guide but also because we think Stockholm is very special and we wanted to take a walk around the Gamla Stan (old town).







The narrowest street in Stockholm.


The Royal Palace

We were successful with our purchases and even found an Åland courtesy flag (although Åland is part of Finland, it is semi-autonomous and has its own flag).

On the way back to the bus stop, we saw a lot of activity with racing yachts. When we got back to Saltsjöbaden, our Finnish neighbor told us that tomorrow is the start of the 'Runt Gotland' race which explains the excitement at the Stockholm waterfront.

Today we'll meet up with a friend of ours. Probably move on tomorrow.

Location:Torben Gruts väg,Saltsjobaden,Sweden

The promised pictures

We are now in Saltsjöbaden, near Stockholm. More about that later or maybe tomorrow, but I still owe our readers yesterday's pictures.




'Mirage marks' near Landsort.




For next time: the harbour at Öja / Landsort




Oops, there is a cruise liner in the Gästhamn......




The Gotland ferry also comes to Nynäshamn.




Looking for Russian submarines?




Although there were more than 12 boats in this little bay last night, it was very peaceful. No radios, no shouting, just the sounds of the birds!

Location:Torben Gruts väg,Saltsjobaden,Sweden